STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. --
The Bayonne Bridge is temporarily shut down in both directions on Tuesday afternoon due to a severely injured worker, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
A 49-year-old male construction worker was injured on the lower level of the bridge. He sustained a severe leg injury and is en route to Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton, according to Joseph Pentangelo, a spokesman for the Port Authority Police.
The worker is conscious, but possibly in shock, according to a source from the scene.
The FDNY is responding to a report at 1:03 p.m. of an unconscious person on the span, said a spokesman for the FDNY/EMS.
Traffic is stopped in both directions.
The closure is posted on the Port Authority's official Twitter feed.
The injured worker is part of the crew dismantling the lower level of the span due to the "Raise the Roadway" project.
Rescue 5 from the FDNY was seen responding.
Unbuilding the Bayonne Bridge
Posted on May 22, 2017 by PANYNJ PORTfolio
By Neal Buccino, Media Relations Staff
The Bayonne Bridge “Raise the Roadway” project, designed to lift the span to accommodate a new generation of bigger commercial ships, offered an unprecedented engineering challenge – building a new bridge over the old roadway, while the existing one was still open and carrying traffic.
The effort continues, but in reverse. Engineers are now focused on ‘unbuilding’ the old bridge.
With the Port Authority’s close supervision and the dedication of scores of demolition workers and engineers, the removal of the Bayonne Bridge’s original span is happening at record speed. The old bridge took 38 months to build, and carried traffic for 85 years . The dismantling of the old roadway will take four months. In fact, the disassembly should be done six months ahead of schedule.
The colossal task of removing 9,800 tons of aged steel and concrete – and doing it safely above an active waterway without polluting the environment – is performed section by section and from the center of the span, out to its historic arch.
A container vessel passes beneath the Bayonne Bridge while workers continue removing steel from its lower roadway. Photo by Mike Dombrowski, Port Authority.
The entire process takes place at dizzying speed in this time lapse video prepared by the Port Authority’s Raphael Azucar and Conrad Barclay: https://youtu.be/lkM1MisRpwA.
The span is divided into sections called “panel points,” each of which represents a concrete square — 40 feet on a side — that is supported by steel girders and floor beams, and suspended by two wrist-thick steel ropes that support both the original and the newly built roadway from the bridge’s iconic steel arch.
To remove the structure, cranes equipped with giant saws slice each panel point into four 20-foot concrete squares. The squares are then lifted away, revealing the steel framework that held them in place for nearly a century. Workers then remove the metal box of girders and floor beams, and proceed to the next panel to start the process again.
The material removed was placed mostly on trucks and driven out over the remaining roadway. As the bridge span now is almost entirely gone, however, it needs to be lowered onto a barge on the Kill van Kull. The remaining steel will be recycled. One day, some of it may well be reincarnated as the bones of a new bridge.
Sparks fly as workers separate the 85-year-old steel floor beams and girders that once made up the lower span of the Bayonne Bridge. Photo by Mike Dombrowski, Port Authority.
The “Raise the Roadway” project’s expected economic benefits – not to mention the challenge of building a new roadway 215 feet above the Kill van Kull, 64 feet above the original span– make it one of the most unique infrastructure projects in the United States. Navigational clearance is expected this summer.
“I’m pleased that we are reaching navigational clearance six months ahead of schedule,” said Steven Plate, the Port Authority’s Chief of Major Capital Projects. “I am also extremely proud of what we have accomplished through the drive and dedication of the men and women who are performing this critical work.”
A head-on view of Bayonne from the partially removed roadway on the bridge’s Staten Island side. Photo by Luis Avendano, Port Authority.
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Port Authority: Bayonne Bridge temporarily closed due to injured worker
November 28, 2017
By Corey W. McDonald
The Jersey Journal
UPDATE: The Bayonne Bridge reopened in both directions shortly before 3 p.m., Port Authority said.
The Bayonne Bridge has been temporarily shut down due to an injured construction worker, according to the Port Authority.
The 49-year-old man sustained a severe injury to his leg this afternoon on the lower level of the Bridge that is being demolished, according to Joseph Pentangelo, spokesman for the Port Authority Police Department.
The bridge was shutdown in both directions around 1:15 p.m.
The worker is currently being transferred to Richmond University Medical Center on Staten Island, Pentangelo said.
The bridge will remain closed until the issue is resolved, Pentangelo added